With Patchwork and Ornament at the printer, I am revisiting old, dusty projects that have waited patiently for my attention. I have felt the strain of being in a creative desert for some time now, parched and seeing the occasional mirage that comes up empty. Shifting gears is never easy, but while P&O will require some marketing attention, I now have some free time to write again.
Fortunately, I’ve had these droughts enough times that I know what to do with them. First, I pulled The Artist’s Way off the shelf. I have done this frequently over the years, and I find that I often just need to reread the text (as opposed to doing the exercises) to jump-start my writing again.
This time, though, I need a little more help. I’m enlisting Writing the Natural Way by Gabriele Rico, Ph.D. This book is one of many recommended by one of my writing teachers, Karleen Koen, who has authored several wonderful historical fiction novels (and who also teaches a great class, “Something Novel”). In Rico’s book, the emphasis is on “clustering,” or taking a word and free-associating other words with it, then writing something based on those results. For the past few days, I’ve been dipping my toes in the water of Rico’s exercises, and now I would say that both feet are offiicially wet again. When this happens, it’s not long before I am submerged in writing once again.
As a result, I’ve returned to Exodus (I am going to work on another title soon, I promise), and I’m feeling good about working on it. I’ve received my novel evaluation from an editor that I hired, and I’m about to go through it. I have promised myself that October is a month for new creation…I have a novel idea that I want to explore, and I will be in an environment to do just that.
It feels good to be coming back, to wash myself in the waters of creativity. It’s time to get back to the pool and do some splashing!